BACKGROUND
The Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) and the Secretariat of the Andean Community (CAN) join cooperative efforts to join together experts and agencies specialized in the analysis of determinants of migration flows, as well as in the evaluation of the impact of these flows on national productive capacities, labour market, and capital flows in the countries of the region, as a significant expression of regional integration processes.
Migratory processes are, perhaps, the latest and deepest expression of regional integration processes. They have an impact on a variety of aspects, such as urban planning, labour market, capital flows, and citizen security. However, beyond said impact, migratory processes put to the test the capacity of adaptation of peoples, so as to recognize each other as equals and build relations for co-existence and tolerance.
Although it is a variable of enormous significance, there are not many studies that analyse its determinants and evaluate their impact on the region. This is mainly due to two reasons. Firstly, the lack of studies on migration is explained by the difficulties faced in finding reliable statistical databases on cross-border people flows. The information available tends to be inconsistent and, in general, incomplete. Secondly, the studies on migration have emerged as complementary information to the integration processes, and the emphasis of the governments has rather been on the analysis of intra-regional trade. Paradoxically, the latter continues to be relatively small, whereupon the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean have integrated deeper with extra-regional markets, rather than with each other.
As stated above, and beyond the legal issues associated with the treatment of persons in the different integration mechanisms, there is a series of economic incentives that have an impact on migration processes. This meeting intends to discuss some of the institutional and regulatory elements that determine migratory flows and describe the way in which they have an impact on the labour market of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
In this connection, the agenda has been divided into two main themes: first, Determining factors of migration flows in the region and their impact on the labour market, which analyses the factors and causes of migration in the region and highlights some of its implications in the work environment of the country of destination. Secondly, Regional challenges concerning migration policies, which proposes a review of advances in this matter from the experiences of the integration blocs, making it possible for participants to know the common and divergent views on the management of migration policies in the region.
